Federal Permsec, Gwarzo tasks pepper producers on “10 Value Chain”

By Orjime Moses, Abuja

The Permanent Secretary federal ministry of Trade and Investment, Dr Nasir Sani Gwarzo has charged the new executive committee of National Association of Pepper Producers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NAPPPMAN) to make sure it come with ten new value chain of pepper next year.

Dr Gwarzo said this on Wednesday, while inaugurating the new executive committee of the association at the permanent secretary’s conference room in Abuja.

He described Pepper as the most value chain in the world and it is a very important product adding that nobody wake up and spent three hours without eating Pepper in one way or the other before going out. So we can see the value it added in our domestic markets and then for export.

He said, “One challenge that I always give to elected principals is that it is not all about you having money and then say you want to start Pepper farming, no you are not doing any good for the nation, go for value chain so that you can consolidate the poor farmers.

“How many value chain of Pepper do we have in Nigeria markets that are being produced by Nigerians producers and processors in fact it is only the raw Pepper but you go to average supper markets in Europe you will find raw Pepper and powder Pepper. So today will reluctantly accept the raw Pepper that you brought but next year come ten value chain of Pepper.”

He further, praise the association for having a united force, adding that this kind of unit is lacking in some associations in Nigeria.

The president of the association Mahmoud Mahmoud said that Nigeria has not been able to optimize it’s potentials to explore the global market Pepper as a single commodity contributes to GDP in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil and others high in importers of Pepper. This definitely call for intervention and alternative to put Nigeria as one of the world leading exporting table in the nearest future and it is the reason for this association.

“We are poised to encourage and support players in the value chain to adopt global best practices in packaging and processing of commodity.

“Our team intend to further to reach out to uncaptured stakeholders to achieve a robust growth for the commodity from generation to generation as well as data collation.

“We are also encouraging Nigeria youths to tap into available opportunities,” he added.